New Delhi:
Profound anger pulsed through India's streets on Wednesday, with protestors demanding an explanation from the government over why a young woman was gang-raped and hit with an iron rod for nearly an hour on a bus that moved seamlessly through multiple check points.
She is in critical condition in a Delhi hospital.
The bus had tinted windows and curtains, which is illegal in the capital. On board were six men attacking a medical student and her male friend. When they were done, they stripped the couple, pushed them from the bus onto the road, and took off to destroy the couple's clothing and wash away the blood that was splattered in the vehicle.
"It's a heinous crime; very upsetting," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar visited the hospital where the young woman who was assaulted is fighting for her life. She said that the woman's parents told her that they are very poor, and often eat '
namak-roti' (salt and bread) because they cannot afford much else. They sold a small field they owned to pay for their daughter's dream of becoming a doctor. Ms Kumar said that the woman's father told her, "I don't blame anyone. I just want to make sure that this doesn't happen to any other girl."
The unimaginably egregious attack has the public and parliamentarians demanding change- in laws, in the way that laws are implemented, and in the security offered to women in the capital.
Of the six men accused of the gang-rape, four have been arrested and three of them have confessed in court today. "Hang me, I am guilty," said one, while another admitted to beating the woman's friend but said she had not been struck.
Two men have yet to be traced.